


the end of all things

by howoozidan



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Seeking a Friend for The End of the World Fusion, End of the World, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Road Trips, but also jicheol has a onesided relationship, omg is this angst im not sure, rated m for hormones
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-22
Updated: 2019-03-25
Packaged: 2019-11-18 11:01:43
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 10,004
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18119483
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/howoozidan/pseuds/howoozidan
Summary: In three weeks, the world’s about to end and Jihoon’s okay with it. That is until Soonyoung, his upstairs neighbor, gives him a reason to maybe change his mind.[fic on hiatus]





	1. it's the end of the world as we know it (and i feel fine)

**_576 hours_ **

“Can I at least get your name before we die?” Jihoon looks up from his desk to find a young man leaning over his cubicle. He’s been staring at his desktop screen for the past thirty minutes, scrolling through news articles of how a giant asteroid was bound to hit Earth in approximately three weeks— and by the looks of it, South Korea is a direct target.

“Huh?”

“We’ve been sitting across each other here for like, eight months now, and I never got your name, so…” he trails off. Jihoon studies him, trying to recall an interaction they had so he can prove he’s wrong. Unfortunately, nothing rings. He looks quite young to be working in an insurance firm, not that Jihoon was that much older, but it was a boring sales job that they both had, and they knew it.

He’s wearing what seems to be a counterfeit Rolex (or Rotex, rather) and a coat two sizes bigger than him. It saddens Jihoon that things are already ending for this boy before they even began.

“My name’s Chan, by the way.”

“Jihoon,” he accepts the handshake, nodding at him. The kid was unusually excited about the end of the world.

“Wow. So you actually have one.”

“A what?”

“A name.”

“Oh.”

“God, you’re a piece of work.”

“Thanks.”

Jihoon frowns slightly at the sarcasm, but honestly, he doesn’t mind as much. He’s always been distant to his colleagues. The only person he’s ever actually befriended was the company security guard— and all they ever did was exchange nods every time Jihoon buzzed in for work. If they’re feeling generous, they even say ‘ _Good morning’_ to each other.

“Anyway, I’d really appreciate it if you’d come over to my house today.” Chan says. “My roommates and I are throwing this party, and I know we haven’t really known each other and all, but what gives, the world’s ending, right?”

Jihoon rubs the back of his neck. “I don’t know, kid. I’m really busy.”

Chan raises an eyebrow at him. “I’m not sure if you got the memo,” he says, peeping over Jihoon’s computer. “But they’re actually making us work half a day from now on.”

Jihoon opens his email and sure enough, there was a memorandum cc’d to every employee.

_In consideration for Judgement Day, Metropolitan Life Insurance will observe a half-day work schedule until further notice. Company officials and staff in each unit are urged to schedule their tasks with flexibility and understanding.  
_ _Please be guided accordingly._

“Judgement Day,” Jihoon scoffs.

“A bit dramatic if you ask me.”

Jihoon looks around the office and finds that most of the employees actually left. It wasn’t even 12 o’clock yet. “The CEO doesn’t even come in anymore. You know, after hearing about that space shuttle that blew up, I think he just ended it for himself. But don’t take my word for it, that’s just what I’m hearing from the pantry room.” Chan says. “That’s why not a lot of people go to work anymore. No one really cares about their jobs anymore. The ones that do only do it because they’d rather follow a routine or else they'd go insane."

“Why are you even here, Chan?” Jihoon asks. He didn’t mean to sound so condescending but it comes out that way. He was just genuinely curious what on Earth makes this kid stay in a place like this.

Chan fiddles with his fingers and shrugs. “Better than dying uneventfully, I guess.”

“This _is_ uneventful.”

“I mean for you.”

Jihoon pauses. He waves it off, trying not to dwell on the thought of living such a monotonous life too much. He isn’t an insecure person and he most definitely doesn’t give a shit how others see his lifestyle— whether it be dull or not, they were all bound for the same thing anyway.

“I just don’t want you to die alone, you know?”

“I’m not going to die alone, Chan.”

“You are!”

“I’m going to die with everyone else.” Jihoon says flatly. “Look,” he sighs. “I don’t need your pity.”

Chan looks at him for a long time before eventually saying, “Fine. I won’t force you. Just that... if you change your mind.” He reaches out to rip a sticky note from his own cubicle and scribbles something down before handing it over to Jihoon. He reluctantly accepts the paper. It was a twenty minute drive away from his apartment.

He glances back at Chan who was looking at him expectedly. _Fuck it,_ he thought. What’s the worst that could happen?

“Fine,” he says, barely enough to hear. Chan just about leapt for joy.

 

 

“This was a mistake!” Jihoon shouts at Chan over the blaring music.

“What?!” Chan shouts back. He’s jumping up and down in the cramped living room, his hair sticking on his skin from sweating.

It was only 8PM but most of the people were already getting shit-faced. “You only die once, motherfuckers!” shouts someone from the other end of the room. The crowd cheers him on. The person is half-naked, his bottle of beer toppling over a woman who’s already climbing on top of his lap. She doesn’t really seem to mind because she ends up making out with him anyway. Jihoon looks away. He decides this party isn’t really his thing.

“I have to go.” Jihoon makes his way out of the apartment until Chan reaches for his wrist.

“Hyung, what’s wrong? You just got here 10 minutes ago!”

“This isn’t exactly how I plan to spend my last days.” He gestures at the crowd— some making out in twos, some sniffing god knows what, and some who look like they’re seconds away from an orgy. “I have to go, Chan,” he says again, reaching for the doorknob. “It was nice knowing you.”

“You too, I guess.” It comes off more as a question than a statement. Then again, it doesn’t really matter because Jihoon is already out the door before he could wait for Chan’s response. He convinces himself it was a stupid decision.

On his way home, Jihoon looks up at the sky and sees a distant meteor on its way, taking its time each second to hurl itself towards the Earth. He moves past two girls who are busy taking photos of it from their phones. “It’s so pretty,” one of them says.

On a normal day, he’d find it odd, but after the news broke a month ago that the space shuttle ‘Deliverance’ imploded before it could stop the asteroid, humanity pretty much gave up on finding ways to stop it. There was chaos on the first week, but everyone decided to live with it (or die with it, rather.) In this case, Jihoon just wants to get this over with.

 

🌌 🌌 🌌

 

Soonyoung wakes up on an unfamiliar bed. The usual. Scratch that— Soonyoung gets _dragged out_ of an unfamiliar bed. The cold hand that grips at his ankles jolts him awake, still a bit too disoriented to understand what was going on. “Who the hell do you think you are?” someone asks. He falls to the carpet and hits his ass hard on the floor. He winces in pain, curling up into a ball. “I’m not fucking around, man,” the person demands.

Soonyoung groans. He forces himself into a sitting position, his eyes still half-closed, rubbing at them. “Uhh,” he starts. “Last night was great, we should do it again.” It slips off his tongue as if it was a memorized spiel.

“What the hell are you saying?"

“Didn’t I sleep with you last night?” This wakes him up a bit. His vision slowly starts to unblur and he looks up at the person who was clearly not in the mood to mess around this early.

The guy’s fists are already balled up and his jaw is clenched. Soonyoung wonders his odds in winning against him in a fist fight, considering that this man was about five inches taller than him. He figures his chances of winning are quite slim. Before he could say anything, he hears a woman groan from the bed he fell from. “Dongho? You’re back early,” she croaks with her morning voice.

“It must be with her, then.” Soonyoung puts two and two together.

“You slept with my girlfriend? I was literally gone for a day, shit."

“You know what, I’m not entirely sure either.” He isn’t lying though. All he remembers is tending the bar last night, chatting up a couple of girls who looked like they were having a night out (they were trying to lure him to offer them drinks for free but he wasn’t budging) and the next thing he knew he was heavily making out with one of them on the unisex restroom. How he ended up in her apartment is still a blur to him.

“Man, just get the fuck out of my house,” Dongho exhales. The anger has washed out of his face and is now replaced with exhaustion. Soonyoung doesn’t blame him.

He obliges, standing up from the carpet. He looks around the room and grabs a pair of worn-out jeans from the edge of the bed, mumbling ’sorry’ repeatedly. Dongho watches Soonyoung in disbelief as he walks past him, struggling to get in his pants as he reaches for the door. “I, uhh..” Soonyoung looks back at the two. “It was nice meeting you, I guess.”

“You’re making this worse than it already is.”

“You know what? I’m just gonna leave.”

 

 

Soonyoung already woke up from the wrong side of the bed today. It doesn’t seem to get any better when he gets to his apartment door, searching for his keys in his pockets only to find out it isn’t there. “Great,” he mumbles to himself.

He was at the bar when they first find out about the failed expedition of ‘Deliverance’, which was quickly followed by breaking news from the office of the President. _“As long as cellular sites remain unaffected, we will be on, and will be covering the end of the world—live, and we will be playing the national anthem approximately three minutes before the collision,”_ the news anchor from CNN said.

The initial reaction of everyone inside the bar was dead silence. It didn’t take long before one guy shouts, _“Drinks on me!”_ that makes the crowd woo as if the announcement for the end of humanity didn't just happen.

“Well, you look like shit,” Soonyoung turns around to find his next door neighbor, Seokmin. Judging by his sportswear, he looks like he just got back from his morning jog. “The auntie who lives above your place has had enough of you already. You know that, right?” He must’ve noticed that Soonyoung was missing his keys.

“I’m probably gonna get a beating if I try to use her fire escape again.”

“How about that guy from downstairs?”

Soonyoung frowns. “I knocked on that guy’s door once. He’s worse.”

He recalls their first encounter— him standing outside the guy’s door, handing the guy a letter that was incorrectly delivered to his apartment. _“I don’t know how they could’ve messed up Room 410 and 510, it’s an entirely different floor,”_ he said, handing over the sealed envelope. _“I’m Soonyoung, by the way. I live right above you.”_ He was only greeted back by a slammed door.

“Is he cute?” Seokmin probes, wiggling his eyebrows at him.

“He’s a grump.”

“Nice.”

Soonyoung sighs. “My life’s a fucking mess.”

“23 days to go before that problem solves itself for us."

 

🌌 🌌 🌌

 

Jihoon wakes up to the sound of urgent knocking. He groans, grabbing the phone from his side table to check the time: 8:15 AM. It was a Saturday which meant that he had nothing to do but sleep in all day, which is why his unexpected visitor makes him nothing less than annoyed.

He forces himself up on his bed, something he never bothered to fix ever since he moved in. The person from the other end knocked endlessly that Jihoon had to cut his morning stretches short to fling his door open. “Hi,” the person says sheepishly— his right hand still raised and balled up in the air.

“Do you need anything?”

"I'm Soonyoung, I live above you—"

"I know. You've said that before and that wasn't my question."

Soonyoung frowns at him. "I was just gonna ask if it's okay to use your fire escape," he says through gritted teeth. "I accidentally locked myself out so..."

Jihoon looks at him in disbelief for a couple of seconds. He's having a stare off with the guy, not believing that he had to drag himself out of bed for this. Eventually, he does let him in though when Soonyoung looks back at him apologetically.

"I'm really sorry. I feel bad for having to bug someone this early so you're a lifesaver, really." Soonyoung is already crouched by Jihoon's window, clinging onto a steep ladder that leads up to his room upstairs.

"You owe me," Jihoon finally speaks up. He smiles briefly. Their first encounter was over six months ago when his mail was accidentally sent to Soonyoung’s apartment. He figures he already felt bad for being so rude to him before, so showing a small act of kindness wouldn’t hurt.

Soonyoung tenses. He was already about to close the window until Jihoon spoke. He chuckles, giving Jihoon a short nod before he climbs up to his room. “I’ll keep that in mind."

 

🌌 🌌 🌌

 

The days go by pretty much the same after that. Soonyoung keeps a mental note never to lock his door because his keys are still missing. He realized he must’ve left it at that girl’s apartment, but he doesn’t want to waste time risking himself get beat up by her boyfriend, so he leaves it. Besides, there wasn’t anything worth stealing in his apartment anyway— at least that’s what Seokmin said.

He gets home everyday in time for the morning news, thanks to his graveyard shift at the bar. He absentmindedly reaches for the remote and opens the TV, “—damage to the towers has sent all cellular phones useless. However, no word yet on how long before water and power will be shut off altogether.” There was a small countdown at the edge of the screen reading **_‘330 hours to go’_ **. He scoffs at this almost everyday.

 _“Maybe they use hours as a unit instead of days because it feels longer. '50 days' sounds a lot shorter than 1200 hours,”_ Seokmin explained to him one time during a visit at his work. It was the first time that they started noticing the countdown timer at the bottom edge of the news.

_“My point is they’re making it sound like New Year's.”_

_“What can you do?”_ Seokmin shrugged, downing a beer. _“At this point, everyone has just about gave up.”_

He opens up the calculator on his phone to convert the units. 14 days. “Already?” he mutters to himself. His body is asking him to crash on his bed, but his mind is telling him that he shouldn’t be wasting more time now that his days are numbered. He groans at the moral debate.

Suddenly, he hears a car tripping its alarm from outside. It sounds like it was hit by something, but he couldn’t quite figure out what. He runs to the window and sees that the streets are starting to get flooded with people running down the streets— there are teenagers vandalizing the closed convenience stores, some throwing stones at car windows while some setting fires. It was a riot.

“Oh god,” he says to himself, the need to sleep washing off his system

He runs across Seokmin’s apartment, knocking frantically. When no one answers for the third knock, he grabs the knob and to his surprise, the door is unlocked. “Seokmin, where the hell are you?”

He runs to check all three rooms and finds no one inside. A realization hits him that Seokmin must’ve been on his morning jog and is caught up with the riot happening outside. Soonyoung had to get out of there fast.

He turns and finds Seokmin’s key holder behind the door. _Seokmin has a car_ , he remembers. He keeps it parked inside the basement of the apartment complex, having to pay an additional hefty fee each year. When Soonyoung scowled at him saying it was a waste, Seokmin promised Soonyoung it was better safe than sorry. Now, Soonyoung is starting to believe that.

He reluctantly grabs for the keys, his mind flashing back to Seokmin telling him there isn’t anything to lose if he leaves his apartment unlocked. “I’m really sorry, man.”

He was almost flying down the stairs since the elevators no longer worked. As soon as he reaches the 4th floor, he stops. _“You owe me,”_ his downstairs neighbor’s voice echoes on the back of his head. Before he could stop himself, he's already running towards Room 410.

 

🌌 🌌 🌌

 

The fire alarm of the apartment building sounds at 6 in the morning and it sends Jihoon sitting up. He already suspected that this day would come. With the police system failing, it wasn’t long until the busy city of Seoul would be too dangerous to inhabit.

His thoughts are in a battle with the fire alarm on who gets to be louder and he tries to shut both of them out. “Ya! Open up!” he hears a familiar voice banging on his door. It was Soonyoung.

“What are you doing here?” Jihoon opens the door and Soonyoung quickly grabs for his arm. “What are you _doing?_ ” he changes the question.

“Trying to save your life. Hurry up!”

“What?” he wriggles free from Soonyoung’s grasp. It just might leave a bruise.

“You said I owe you something. The rioters downstairs are probably going to loot this building in the next 10 minutes and if you don't hurry up, you might as well just die before that comet hits so let's go," Soonyoung says urgently. “Grab what you need, come on!”

Jihoon’s mind was trying to process everything at once, so on a whim he reaches for a small keepsake box on top of his living room table.

He tried his best to catch up with Soonyoung’s quick feet as they go down the fire exit staircase, not entirely sure where they’re heading to. He glances at a window and sees that a couple of rioters have already managed to trespass their building. “Oh my God,” he whispers to himself.

“Here, come on.” Soonyoung pushes the basement door open, tilting his head at him. Jihoon follows.

Soonyoung reaches for the pocket of his padded jacket and clicks on a pair of car keys. A blue sedan responds to it. “You don’t have the keys to your apartment but you have the keys to your car?” Jihoon asks sarcastically, opening the door to the passenger seat.

Soonyoung laughs as he starts the engine. “This isn’t even mine.” Jihoon looks at him in disbelief, but manages to throw a smile as well. He doesn’t understand how they were both finding this situation funny at all, but it was nice to lighten up for a bit.

 

 

“So I never got your name,” Soonyoung breaks the silence. He already managed to drive out of the chaotic streets of Seoul and has been driving along a secluded road for the past 15 minutes.

“It’s Jihoon.”

Soonyoung gasps. "He speaks!” Jihoon glares at him. He couldn’t help but remember a similar joke Chan made, wondering if the kid managed to get out of Seoul. “I’m sorry. I figured if we’re going to drive to god knows where, we might as well get to know each other. Right?” Soonyoung looks over at him with a grin.

“Where are we going to, exactly?”

“Anywhere out of there.”

Jihoon looks over the rearview mirror to catch his last glimpse of Seoul. He catches a small trail of black smoke hovering over the distance. He really hopes Chan got out of there. “What’s that noise?” Jihoon squints his eyes, shushing Soonyoung before he could even ask. It sounds like whirring coming from under the car. Soonyoung tries to step on the gas pedal to speed up, but this makes the engine jerk and backfire, until it stops entirely.

“What just happened?”

“I’m not a car expert but I think your car broke down.”

“This is actually my friend’s car.”

"Wait. You weren't joking?"

"Nope."

Jihoon raises an eyebrow at him. “And you _left_ them?”

Soonyoung raises his hands defensively. “What? It’s not like he was around to get this thing. The survivalist in me just happened to react."

“Wow, karma really is fast,” Jihoon mutters, he isn’t sure if Soonyoung heard but he hopes he did. If anything, Jihoon feels really bad for the owner of this stolen car. He looks around. “I know this place. It’s roughly a 15-minute walk to the airport, we can head over there.”

“Don’t you watch the news? They’ve stopped all commercial flights since last week.”

“I never said anything about flying,” Jihoon waves him off. “There’s a car rental near it, maybe we can borrow one from there.”

“Wow, you watch a lot of zombie shows, don’t you?”

“Stop.”

They spend their time walking towards the airport. Jihoon feels like it’s been way past 15 minutes. Soonyoung, on the other hand, wouldn’t stop talking about his bucket list and the places he plans to drive to when they finally get a car.

“I have to ask you something.” Soonyoung has been talking too much that it was only when he took a short pause does Jihoon find the right moment to squeeze in and finally speak up.

“Shoot.”

“Don’t you have anywhere to go?”

Soonyoung looks at him, upset. “I literally have been talking to you for the past 20 minutes about the places I want to go to.”

“No, I mean… Are you planning on heading somewhere? Your family?” Soonyoung ponders over this for a few seconds and shrugs. “Really?”

“Sorry to break it to you, but I’m not really a sentimental guy,” he says simply. He turns to Jihoon who was pacing a lot slower behind him. “Do you plan on heading somewhere?”

“How about this,” Jihoon starts, ignoring the question. “We’ll drive to Daegu then I’ll leave you with the car. Go crazy wherever you want to go, but I have to get to Daegu.”

“What’s in Daegu?”

Jihoon looks away from him, glancing at the keepsake box he’s been holding onto. Going to Daegu hasn’t been his plan all along. If anything, he was more than okay in dying in his apartment uneventfully. But he realized that now that he’s already on an expedition with a stranger, he might as well just go for it. The world’s ending in 2 weeks and he has nothing left to lose.

“Family.” Soonyoung must’ve noticed because his eyes flicker over the box too. He doesn’t ask further and Jihoon mentally thanks him for that.

 

🌌 🌌 🌌

 

Once they get to the airport, they pester the key keeper to lend them a ride, until 30 minutes after, the person gives up on them and throws them a key— the two manage to nab a car. It was fairly old and judging by the dust piling up the exterior, it looks like it hasn't been touched for years. Still, Soonyoung decides it could be worse.

"So, Daegu," Soonyoung says, starting the car. It takes him two more tries before it successfully works. "Well isn't this a piece of shit."

"Careful, she's gonna be yours soon," Jihoon teases.

Soonyoung groans dramatically, buckling his seatbelt.

They drive in silence for the next hour. Soonyoung isn't an expert in highways routes, so most of the time he's guessing which exit to take, hoping it's the right one. Jihoon doesn't seem to be of help until Soonyoung realized he's been dozing off, his seat leaning comfortably beside him.

Soonyoung intentionally pats his shoulder a little too hard. "Ouch," Jihoon croaks. "What was that for?!"

"It's rude to sleep on me. I'm not your driver," he says, eyes glued on the road.

"Sorry. I can switch with you when we get to an exit." Jihoon puts his seat back up. "Are you okay?"

He must've noticed that Soonyoung has been blinking his sleepiness away. His usual grin isn't in sight either, and just thinking about doing anything hyper drains him already. "I haven't slept since last night. I was supposed to this morning, but the riot happened."

"Oh. Sorry. You should've told me," Jihoon says with a small voice. He points over a distance, "There, I see a rest stop. We can switch there. I'm starving anyway."

They end up eating instant noodles on the car which Jihoon took from a nearby convenience store.

"I think this supply would last us until we get to Daegu." Jihoon was carrying at least 10 cups with both hands, quickly shuffling to place them in the car. Soonyoung's eyes widen at this but Jihoon explains that there's no one left in the store anyway, and a sign that says _"_ Ta _ke what you need"_ was placed on the cashier counter.

Soonyoung is at least three bites away from finishing his ramen when he notices Jihoon messing with the car heater, raising the temperature. "I asked you to grab what you need and you chose that," Soonyoung points to Jihoon's brown keepsake box with his chopsticks, "over a jacket."

"In my defense, you didn't give me a choice. How was I supposed to think clearly at a time like that?” Jihoon crosses his arms.

He had a point. And Soonyoung had to admit, he may have acted a little bit too exaggerated at the turn of events. Then he remembers Seokmin. A pang of guilt hits him in the chest, visualizing the blue sedan left in the middle of a road to Incheon. He does feel bad for stealing his car, but at this point, it's every man for himself.

"Soonyoung." He blinks, not realizing that he was spaced out until Jihoon calls for his name.

"Sorry. What?"

"I asked if you needed me to throw that." Jihoon points at his cup.

“I got it.”

Soonyoung takes a plastic bag to collect their trash. Jihoon gulps down the soup of his cup and hands it over to Soonyoung after emptying it. “This is good, you know." It was the first time Soonyoung noticed him sound upbeat like that. "Don’t fix your body clock. It’ll be easier for us to switch places driving like this.”

“Are you always this optimistic after a meal?” Soonyoung asks and Jihoon responds with a laugh as he starts the car engine.

“I just can't wait to go back home,” he simply says.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hiiiiiii
> 
> so this story is loosely based off the movie 'seeking a friend for the end of the world' but you don't have to watch it if you haven't as it wouldn't really affect this story~
> 
> as u may know, this is my very first full narrative fic after writing socmed aus on twit. and it's also the first one i've written in english so yea im really nervous and all so pls dont eat me alive. i would rly appreciate ur thoughts so far so feel free to hmu on [twitter](http://www.twitter.com/howoozidan/)!!!
> 
> anyway, thank u for reading!!! this fic prob wont be too long as i'm planning to make this at least 3-5 chapters long, but we'll have to see! again thank u and let me know what u think~


	2. highway to hell

Jihoon has been the one driving for the past 45 minutes, allowing Soonyoung to crash at the back of the car so he could at least lie down. It was cramped and the seats weren’t as comfortable, but Soonyoung was already too tired to care.

Jihoon taps his fingers along to a tune he’s humming to save himself from the boredom. He glances at the toll signs and estimates the time it should take him to get to Daegu.

If they take the turnpike that leads straight to the south and manage to make stops as little as they can, they’d get there in less than 6 hours. It would’ve been way less if it wasn't for their lent car who looks like it's about to retire from its service.

Earlier in his drive, Jihoon discovers that it can only run a maximum of 40 kilometers per hour— anything more than that would lead to a worrying grumble from the engine and Jihoon didn’t want to risk another car breaking down, especially in the middle of nowhere.

An hour passes and Jihoon squints at the road ahead of him. A note written in spray can was sprawled across a toll sign that says _'NO ROAD. TURN BACK.’_

“What?” Jihoon mutters to himself. He rereads it a few more times, not exactly knowing what to do next.

That expressway was the fastest route that would take him to where he needed to go, and the fact that he already drove over 2 hours to get to that exit, only to be rendered useless makes him both irritated and angry.

He sighs, reversing the car a little too fast that sends Soonyoung falling from the back of the seat, shrieking himself awake.

“What the hell?” Soonyoung says groggily.

“Road’s closed."

“Really?” Jihoon points his head at the sign. Soonyoung grimaces, “Yikes. What do we do now?”

"How come I’m the only one coming up with something?” Jihoon retorts, looking back at Soonyoung.

“Well, you’re the one who badly needs to get there!”

Jihoon sighs. Come to think of it, he really does sound so persistent in getting there. “We passed by a gasoline station 20 minutes from here, maybe they have some sort of map or something.”

“We might as well gas up this piece of junk,” Soonyoung says, flopping down on his back again. “I’m going back to sleep. No sudden breaks please.”

“Did you really drag me with you to save me or is it the other way around?” Jihoon asks, chuckling. “Because dying in the middle of a riot in Seoul was actually on top of my bucket list.”

“Are you trying to guilt trip me?”

“Maybe.”

“You know what? Guilt isn’t really a feeling that I’m comfortable with.”

“Fortunately you don’t have long to live with it.”

“Shut up. We’re dying at the same time.”

 

Luckily enough, they did manage to find a couple of map brochures made for tourists in the gas station. Jihoon fills up the tank as Soonyoung studies the maps laid out on the hood of the car, sipping a can of coffee that they manage to find in the convenience store.

“I think I found a valid route but you’re not gonna like it,” Soonyoung says.

“Why?” Jihoon puts back the gas nozzle, walking towards Soonyoung who has his nose sticking at the brochures. He pulls it away from him to have a look.

Soonyoung points at the map to give him a visual guide. “Because all of the east exits are probably closed. So we don’t really have a choice but to circle around it starting from the west.” Jihoon frowns at him. “We can head over to Gwangju’s direction, then head east from there.”

“What? No. That’s going against our direction.”

“Well, it’s the only way,” Soonyoung shrugs. “It’s just going to be a longer route than expected, but we’ll get you there.”

“You do understand that we’re traveling at least 600 kilometers for a 300-kilometer trip, right?” Jihoon looks up at him and Soonyoung stops on his tracks before he could get back to the backseat.

“Sure.” Soonyoung responds nonchalantly.

“Why?”

“What do you mean _why?”_

Jihoon rubs the back of his neck, not entirely sure either. “You’re coming with me on more than half a thousand-mile trip.”

Soonyoung furrows his brows at him. “Yeah. We’ve already established that. Were you not listening to anything I just said?”

“I mean, I don’t know…” Jihoon trails off. “Maybe because you’re a stranger who’s willingly going to do all that.”

Soonyoung looks back at him and scoffs dramatically. “First of all, we’re _acquaintances_. Second, my rent for this month is unpaid, so there’s no coming back to that.” Jihoon rolls his eyes. “And third, I really want a free car before I die, so…”

Soonyoung says it so casually that it almost makes Jihoon envious of just how carefree he is.

He’s always been that guy who played by the rules and he’s never really hung out with people like Soonyoung before. Sure he had friends, but the ones that eventually realized that they probably wouldn't gain anything for hanging out with him, so they slowly start to leave until eventually, they just aren't on speaking terms anymore.

“Wow. You really thought this through, then,” he nods sarcastically, heading back to the driver’s seat.

“What can I say? I’m a survivalist.”

For some reason, Jihoon found himself comfortable enough to mess with Soonyoung. Their first encounter wasn't the most pleasant anyway so he figured he might as well keep up the act.

The bickering goes back and forth for the next few hours along the drive, occasionally stopping to either eat or use the restroom. With the car not having a digital clock and their phones exhausting its battery, neither of them knew exactly what time it was.

“This is why a sundial is important,” Soonyoung says, shoving his phone inside his pocket with his other hand on the wheel.

“Is that the survivalist in you speaking?” Jihoon asks. He turns the car radio on and searches for a signal.

“Well, given that the sun’s about to set and it’s almost the end of Spring... I’d say it’s around 6:45 PM.”

The radio starts to pick up a channel. The news anchor’s words are choppy but bearable enough for the both of them to hear her say, ‘10 minutes ‘til 7 PM’

Jihoon looks over at Soonyoung, impressed. “I take back what I said, you just might be useful.”

“So I’ve finally proven my worth.” Soonyoung looks pleased, nodding at him. “So _Jihooooon,”_ he stretches the last syllable, teasing. “Is that the only thing I'll be learning about you for the duration of this road trip? Other than you being passive aggressive?”

“I can also uppercut people who annoy me even if they're driving.”

This makes Soonyoung laugh. Jihoon doesn't want to admit it, but he appreciates how much Soonyoung responds to whatever he says with such delight, even for the bare minimum.

“I mean the small talk stuff! Like what did you do before all this?”

“I’m a– was a life insurance salesman,” says Jihoon. This makes Soonyoung snort.

“Very funny,” he says, looking over at Jihoon who raises a brow at him. “Wait, you’re not joking?”

“I wish I am.”

Now Soonyoung is laughing maniacally that tears were starting to form in his eyes. It was funny, but Jihoon didn’t expect him to find it that funny.

“Watch the road,” he warns.

Soonyoung sighs, a smile still plastered over his face. “I’m sorry. That’s just so ironic.”

“You’re making me feel like my job’s a joke.” Jihoon furrows his brows at him.

“Okay, I’m sorry,” Soonyoung says. “To make it up for you, I think life insurance is sexy.”

Jihoon can feel his face heating up at what Soonyoung just said and hopes he doesn’t notice. To free himself from the tension, he starts talking. “When the news broke, I had about 20 calls on hold and all of them were asking for a refund for their life insurance plan.”

“Are you serious?” Soonyoung gasps. “Capitalism fucked us up so bad no wonder we’re being wiped off the Earth.”

Jihoon looks over at the sky and sure enough, the giant ball of fire was up there, slowly looming over. “What about you? You had a job?”

“Are you accusing me of being jobless?” Jihoon rolls his eyes. They’ve only been together for the last 12 hours but there’s one thing about Soonyoung that he’s sure of: he loves to exaggerate.

“Well, now that you’ve mentioned it.”

“I’m joking!” Soonyoung laughs, his hand reaches out to pat Jihoon’s shoulder a little too hard. Jihoon dodges all further attempts, squeezing himself nearer to the car door. “I worked at a bar. You know, the one three blocks away from our building.”

Unfortunately, he doesn’t, but he nods anyway. “You do have that bartender energy.”

“Is that a compliment or an insult?”

“It’s a statement.”

“Fair enough.”

The skies grow dimmer and dimmer as the sun starts to set that the 70-mile wide asteroid was too hard to ignore as it contrasts with the darkness.

“I was struggling to get a stable job around Seoul when I figured a desk job just wasn’t gonna cut it for me. Way too lifeless and repetitive. No offense. My friend referred me to the owner of that bar and I got hired the same day. Remember him?”

“I’m not sure if he would call you a friend judging by what you did to him.” Jihoon chuckles, remembering the blue sedan that was left to rot in the highway.

Soonyoung smiles at him shyly. “Oh my god, will you please let me off the hook already?” Now Jihoon is the one laughing, thrilled to find the other so embarrassed. “If anything, I really hope he got out of that neighborhood.”

“If he did manage to get out, he’s gonna kill you before that asteroid even falls to the Earth.”

“Yeah, he would.” Soonyoung sighs.

They were driving out of the highway already and into a small town that Jihoon isn’t familiar with. As soon as the night falls, Soonyoung taps on a switch on the steering wheel to turn his headlights on. The only thing was, there isn’t any light turning on.

“Are you kidding me?” he whines, switching it multiple times aggressively.

Jihoon slaps his hand away from it, “Stop it! You’re gonna break it even more.”

“It’s night. There are no street lights anywhere and our car is probably going to fall off a cliff if we drive any further,” Soonyoung whines.

“So not only does this car run 40 kilometers per hour and has no clock, but it also happens to be useless at night,” Jihoon says mockingly.

Soonyoung mumbles under his breath, “Well, it was your idea to get a car at that rental place.”

“Okay, shut up. I’m the only one coming up with plans here while you’re busy being a freeloader,” snaps Jihoon.

He doesn’t mean to sound so irritated at Soonyoung but the way the blame was being thrown back at him makes him defensive.

“It was a joke,” Soonyoung says, almost sounding hurt. Jihoon suddenly regrets saying what he just did but he doesn’t speak up. “I can park at that store for the night. Maybe sleep through it ‘til morning.”

Soonyoung points over at an illuminated building not too far from where they were. Jihoon nods silently.

 

🌌 🌌 🌌

 

As soon as morning came, Soonyoung flinches at the sunlight directly hitting him on his face. He fell asleep on the driver’s seat and looks behind him to find Jihoon still sleeping on the backseat.

After last night’s sudden tension, Soonyoung is already dreading the drive today, not knowing how he’d be able to sit so still and silently.

He decides to get off the car to stretch his limbs, standing in front of the glass of the store they parked in front of to get a view of his reflection. He does a couple of twists that sends some of his joints cracking and he winces in pain.

“I should’ve hit the gym more,” he says to himself.

He walks nearer to the glass, observing his physique and does a ‘not bad’ gesture while he flexes.

The interior of the store slowly starts to catch his attention. He peeps over the tinted glass and finds rows and rows of clothing racks– turns out it’s a department store. By the looks of it, the place has already been looted, but there was still a couple of clothing that remained that might just be of good use.

“Ya!”

Soonyoung turns around quickly and finds a car with three guys stopping in front of theirs. It was a convertible with the roof folded open. He raises his hands up, “I honestly have nothing.”

The driver laughs at him, turning the engine off. “Do we look like looters to you?”

Soonyoung drops his arms and looks at them questionably, still keeping his guard as he scoots nearer their car. He glances carefully at Jihoon and sees that he’s still deep in his sleep, shuffling on his fetal position. “There’s nothing to do _but_ loot anymore.”

“Relax, we’re just stopping over,” the person on the passenger seat says, getting off to extend his hand to Soonyoung. “I’m Minghao.”

He takes it reluctantly, “Soonyoung.”

Minghao looks back at his friends, “That’s Jun,” he points to the guy getting off the backseat, nodding at Soonyoung. “And that’s Mingyu.” Mingyu gets off the driver seat, twirling the car keys on his index finger and lifting his chin up to Soonyoung as a hello.

“We get mistaken a lot as bandits because of this oak tree.” Jun points over at Mingyu, laughing as Mingyu glares at him.

“You said your name was Soonyoung, right?” Mingyu asks, leaning over their car. Soonyoung nods slightly. One thing’s for sure, he was really intimidated by the guy.

“Who’s your friend?” Minghao asks. Soonyoung follows his eyes staring at Jihoon from the backseat. “Are you some kind of trafficker or something?” he asks when Soonyoung fails to respond.

“What? No!” he says alarmingly, shaking his head.

Jihoon slowly starts to stir awake and once he turns around, he freezes in place to find three strangers who were watching him as they encircled Soonyoung. Jun breaks the tension by waving at him.

 

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Jihoon whispers to Soonyoung, catching up behind him. Just a few minutes earlier, their newly found friends managed to break in the department store with a wrench, inviting Soonyoung and Jihoon to come along.

“I know this looks bad and we said we weren’t outlaws or anything,” Minghao starts. He isn’t directly speaking to Jihoon but is somehow addressing their unspoken concern. “But it’s actually on our bucket list to break inside an abandoned store.”

He strides backward along the center aisle as he swings the wrench around playfully.

“Could be worse, I guess,” Soonyoung leans to Jihoon, whispering back. “I mean, they could’ve killed us if they wanted to, right?”

“That doesn’t help me feel better at all,” Jihoon hisses.

Soonyoung shrugs. “I mean they look okay? Douchey, but my instincts are saying they’re fine.”

The three have already split up inside the building, busying themselves to look for clothes that looked bearable enough to take.

“Since when have we used your instincts as a call for action?” Jihoon asks.

Soonyoung turns back at him. He doesn’t even bother trying to hide his annoyance any longer. “God, you’re so stingy to me. What did I ever do to you in your past life?”

“I’m just being cautious,” Jihoon says flatly. “We don’t know these people. We don’t know what they’re capable of doing.”

“Hey look!” shouts Jun from the second floor. Soonyoung and Jihoon look up at him from the ground floor. “I found onesies!”

“Well, sometimes people aren’t as bad as you think, Jihoon.” Soonyoung sighs, looking back at him. “Just because you survived this long as a lone wolf doesn’t mean people can’t be trustworthy.”

He climbs up the inoperable escalator to follow Jun upstairs, no longer waiting for Jihoon’s response.

 

🌌 🌌 🌌

 

Jihoon is left on his tracks in the middle of the aisle, slightly surprised at Soonyoung’s retort to him. Then he remembers he did the same last night by calling him a freeloader. He figures he has to apologize for that soon.

“Ya.”

He turns to follow the voice and sees Mingyu’s head peeking over one of the aisles. “I didn’t think he wouldn’t notice me down here while he calls us douchey considering I’m a 6 feet tall guy. And I wasn’t even trying to hide.”

“How long have you been standing there?”

“I never went upstairs.” Mingyu shrugs. “That was a pretty intense fight with your boyfriend, huh?”

Jihoon thinks of himself lucky that he’s short enough to hide behind an aisle without his head sticking out because sure enough, he can feel his ears turning bright red at the thought of someone mistaking Soonyoung as his boyfriend.

“He’s not my boyfriend. I’ve only known him for a day.”

“Oh?” Mingyu sounds unconvinced, lifting a jacket in front of him and studying the tag. “Okay.”

“He randomly dragged me here out of Seoul when a riot started. We lived in the same building but I never spoke a word to him until yesterday.”

“So why are you telling me all this?”

“Because you’re saying he’s my boyfriend!”

Mingyu laughs, “I already said ‘okay’, didn’t I?” He sounds pleased that he has Jihoon on the edge. “I can’t believe all the XL sizes are gone. Why would people not leave some for me?”

“Look, whatever you and your friends’ game is, leave us out of it.”

Mingyu walks over to him, amused. “Do you think there’s a game?”

“You make it sound like there is.”

“We’re just checking a list,” Mingyu shrugs. “Left our families back in Incheon. When we were in primary school we made a promise to get to Busan together one day, so that’s what we’re doing.”

“What’s in Busan?”

“Gwangalli Beach. Before the internet was cut off, there were rumors spreading about an underground bomb shelter in one of the bars.”

Jihoon scoffs, “No bomb shelter is gonna save us.”

“I know,” admits Mingyu. “We just need a little something to look forward to. Besides, I heard people also wed themselves by the beach, and some even baptize themselves or some shit.” He sighs, “I miss having internet.”

“Jihoon!” shouts Soonyoung from the second floor. He rushes down the escalator, skipping a few steps to run towards him. He holds out a gray padded trench coat to him. “I think this is gonna fit you.”

Mingyu looks over at Jihoon, a smile creeping as if to say ‘Not your boyfriend, huh?’ making Jihoon have the sudden urge to hit him. “I think Minghao’s calling me, give me one sec.” Mingyu winks at Jihoon as he starts to walk away from them.

“Turn around,” Soonyoung instructs him and he obliges. Soonyoung shoots the armholes over him and spins Jihoon over to face him again. “It looks good!”

“What are you doing?”

“I told you. You’re gonna need a jacket if you don’t wanna die of hypothermia.”

“We literally just fought 10 minutes ago.”

“So? I’m not a high schooler. I don’t hold grudges.” He wipes the dust off Jihoon’s padded shoulders. “But I am sorry for saying those stuff to you.”

“Me too. From last night… when I called you a freeloader. That wasn’t very nice,” Jihoon says silently. “If anything, I’m really glad you’re tagging along with me to Daegu. I could really use the company.”

Soonyoung shrugs. “My last act of kindness before the world finally obliterates my charming looks.”

“Just 10 minutes of modesty, that’s all I ask,” Jihoon sighs at him. A smile breaks in both of their faces.

“Hey lovebirds,” shouts Minghao. They turn around and Jihoon can feel his cheeks flush. He finds Mingyu following behind Minghao grinning at him, knowing that guy had probably gossiped to his friends already.

Soonyoung looks like he doesn’t seem to mind (or notice) the remark as much, which makes Jihoon feel even more embarrassed.

Minghao’s holding what looks to be at least 8 pieces of clothing in one hand. Jihoon also notices that he switched his beige cardigan for a tattered denim jacket. “Are any of you in a hurry?”

Soonyoung was the first to speak up for both of them. “Well, our car literally runs at the speed of a wheezing grandma. So literally speaking, no.”

“And figuratively?”

Soonyoung and Jihoon look at each other. “Not really,” shrugs Jihoon.

Soonyoung looks at him and Jihoon interprets it as him saying, ‘What about Daegu?’ He shakes his head at Soonyoung and hopes that he got the message ‘A day isn’t gonna change anything.’

He also hopes Soonyoung takes this as a peace offering– to tell him that he’s willing to step out of his shell as a lone wolf.

Jun speaks up and quickly breaks their telepathy. “You guys wanna come with us? We’ll be passing by this club, it’s been the talk of the town for quite a while so we’re planning on checking it out.”

“We’d love to!” Soonyoung responds a little too eagerly.

He hasn’t seen Soonyoung this excited and to be honest, he looks cute with his eyes crinkling and his nose scrunching a bit. His hair looks a bit disheveled from sleeping uncomfortably in the driver’s seat and Jihoon finds himself fighting the urge to fix the piece of hair sticking out on top of his head.

He wipes the thought away as quickly as he could, feeling exposed.

He glances around to make sure nobody saw him observing Soonyoung that long. Luckily, Minghao and Jun don’t seem to notice at all as they’re busy chatting up Soonyoung about the legends of the nightclub.

Unluckily though, he’s pretty sure Mingyu caught him in the act because now a slow smirk is etching on the guy’s face.

“Quit looking at me as if you’re going to pounce, it’s making me uncomfortable,” he hisses as he walks over to Mingyu, looking up at him.

“I’m just entertained, is all.” Mingyu smiles back down at him.

“So!” Minghao says, dragging Mingyu. “Let’s go. It’s about a 100-kilometer drive from here. If we get ahead of you guys just take the fifth exit from here and we’ll meet you there, okay?”

“We’ll catch up.” Soonyoung nods and they watch their three new friends drive away on their car. He looks back at Jihoon, gesturing him to theirs. “Come on. I’ll drive.”

 

“So what was that about?” Soonyoung asks. The road shoots straight to the horizon and the trio’s car isn’t in sight anymore so they figured they must be really far ahead.

“What was?” Jihoon opens the glove compartment of the passenger seat and finds his keepsake box still in it.

“You were acting really weird with Mingyu. Did he like, threaten you or something?”

“What? No!” he shoots back quickly, closing the compartment shut. “I told him I don’t have a good feeling about him and now he’s trying to get on my nerves.” It wasn’t technically a lie.

Soonyoung seems to buy whatever he just said and nods. “Why do you keep double checking on that thing? You’re acting as if I’m gonna steal it.”

“No, I’m not.”

“Yeah, you are. That’s the fourth time you’ve opened that thing in the past two hours.”

“Why are you watching what I do? Get your eyes on the road.”

“Why don’t you answer my question?”

Jihoon sighs heavily. He figures if he doesn’t stop talking back at him, neither will Soonyoung. It was a thing they had going on, he noticed. “Because.”

“Don’t tell me that that’s your dad’s ashes and we’re driving all the way to Daegu to spread it because it was his last dying wish.”

Jihoon looks back at him, horrified. The look on his face relaxes when he realizes Soonyoung was joking. “Sometimes I wonder what goes on inside your mind,” he says, shaking his head. Soonyoung laughs.

 

🌌 🌌 🌌

 

When they finally get to their (pre) destination, Soonyoung catches sight of the trio’s convertible in a sea of parked sedans and SUVs.

He has to admit, he was worried if he and Jihoon were actually being lured to a slaughterhouse to offer their blood to some sort of god they worshipped, but so far his newfound friends were staying true to their word.

He parks right beside their car and Jun greets them as soon as they step out. “The owner has a bathroom here if you guys wanna shower. The line’s pretty long though.”

Soonyoung looks down and sniffs his shirt. He does realize that he was starting to smell like sweat so he figured he needed one while the offer still stands.

“I’ll go ahead,” says Jihoon. He has with him a long-sleeved shirt that he took from the abandoned department store.

“Yeah, head on over there. I think Minghao’s waiting so he might let you cut the line behind him.”

 

The five of them end up drinking beer on the hood of Mingyu’s car as a ‘pregame’ as Minghao says. Soonyoung finds out that the three of them were actually childhood best friends from Incheon.

Jun and Minghao clicked really well for growing up in culturally Chinese homes and Mingyu was the one who helped them improve their Korean.

“So let me get this straight. You guys have lived together in the same building for over 4 years and you never spoke a word to each other,” Jun says, his hands point alternatively at Soonyoung and Jihoon.

“Well, we weren’t exactly neighbors,” Soonyoung says, downing the last remnants of his beer. “He lived below me.”

“Which was a pain.” Jihoon nods. Soonyoung looks back at him accusingly. “What? I always heard you stomping on my ceiling when I badly needed to sleep. Every night.”

“You could’ve knocked!”

“Soonyoung, no one needs to be reminded not to play Just Dance on your Wii at midnight.”

“For your information, it was an Xbox 360.”

“Exactly how do you two stand each other on your drive?” Jun asks, highly amused by the ongoing rebuttal.

They both answer in unison. “We don’t.”

 

As soon as the sun finally sets, the people begin to surround the entrance of the building. It was a lot bigger than what Soonyoung was expecting, which was a small scale club that catered to at least 20 people.

This, however, is almost as big as a campus. Soonyoung estimates at least more than a hundred people are in attendance for the night, and he looks back at Jihoon beside him who isn’t looking as excited as everyone else, rather nervous.

“You sure this is okay?” Soonyoung nudges him.

Jihoon has his hands stuck inside the padded jacket that Soonyoung got for him back at the department store. “Yeah, why wouldn’t it be?”

“I mean, if it makes you uncomfortable we could leave. Otherwise, if you plan on letting yourself loose tonight then I’m here for it.”

Jihoon shrugs. “I figured I could use a drink.”

“Well, go easy. You look like you have an alcohol tolerance of a twelve-year-old.” He ruffles Jihoons hair as the other tries his best to dodge it.

“For your information, I _do_ drink. Occasionally.”

“Hmm. Always considered you as the sad sap who lived below me.”

Jihoon hits him in the gut to shut him up, making Soonyoung groan in pain.

“Soonyoung! Jihoon!” They turn around to Minghao who’s already motioning them to come inside.

Entering the bar is almost entering an entirely different dimension. The mood lights painted everything red and the loud music blares on their eardrums, making them feel the bass on their heartbeats.

“Okay! Last chance,” Soonyoung shouts over the music, turning Jihoon around on his shoulders to face him. “You sure you wanna do this?”

Jihoon wriggles his shoulders free from his grasp. “As long as you’re driving tomorrow.”

“So are you only getting wasted so you’d have an excuse not to drive?” Jihoon smiles knowingly. “I knew it!”

“Ya! You two, over here!” Minghao waves at them from across the room. He’s already found a table for the five of them.

Soonyoung grabs Jihoon by the wrist, moving along the crowd to get to them. Minghao scoots over the seat to give them some space while Jun is busy lining up a row of paper cups and pouring soju over it.

Jun hands a drink to both of them and Jihoon downs it in one go, wincing at the burning sensation in his throat. Jun’s eyes widen at him, impressed. “Well, someone came to get wrecked.”

Throughout the night, Soonyoung eventually let Jihoon get dragged by Jun and Minghao to the dance floor. He’s seated by the bar stools, his eyes fixed on Jihoon who looks like he was having the time of his life, laughing at Minghao who’s trying his best to show off a couple of body rolls to his friends.

“You’re friend’s pretty drunk.” Mingyu sits beside Soonyoung, twirling his half-filled cup on his hand.

“I can see that.”

He watches the three of them: Jun, Minghao, and Jihoon, stumbling to their feet. Jihoon’s arms wrap around Jun and Minghao’s shoulders as they leave the floor, trying their best to walk straight to where Soonyoung and Mingyu were sitting.

“Soonyoung,” Minghao slurs. “This guy’s about to vomit and I’m not babysitting.”

He gets up his seat to grab Jihoon’s arm from the two. Jihoon was surprisingly heavier than he thought. “I’ll take care of him.”

He leads Jihoon outside where it’s quiet and sets him down. They sit on a curb beside each other and Jihoon leans his head on Soonyoung’s shoulder. “Tired…” Jihoon mumbles.

Soonyoung chuckles, not allowing himself to move as much now that Jihoon was leaning onto him. “You should get some rest,” he says, almost as a whisper.

“Mmmm...” Jihoon hums, moving his head up a bit that his nose grazes Soonyoung’s cheek. “Maybe.”

Soonyoung carefully shifts from his position, “Come on,” he says as he tries lifting him up to his feet and slings Jihoon’s arm around him.

As soon as he gets the car unlocked, he reclines the passenger seat halfway, leading Jihoon to lay down. Jihoon tries to reach for the handle to lower it completely but Soonyoung grabs hold of his hand. “Unless you wanna choke on your own vomit, don’t.”

He shuts Jihoon’s door and sits on over to the driver seat. He turns the engine on, taking him two tries, and switches the heater.

Jihoon turns to him with eyes half closed. Soonyoung looks back at him with a short smile, shaking his head.

“I really hope you don’t wake up tomorrow with a–”

Before Soonyoung could finish his sentence, Jihoon crosses over from his side of the passenger seat. He climbs onto Soonyoung’s lap, gripping onto his shoulders as he intently presses their lips together and muffles Soonyoung’s next words.

This rattles him for a second, but eventually, he has his hands falling onto Jihoon’s hips. He opens his mouth to Jihoon’s, both of them tasting of alcohol, and the other responds to it eagerly, kissing him hard.

Jihoon breaks away, gasping for air and returns to leave a trail of kisses from Soonyoung’s jaw down to his neck, making Soonyoung expose more of it. Soonyoung couldn’t help but whimper when Jihoon slowly starts to suck on a sweet spot just above his collarbone.

“Jihoon,” he says breathlessly.

“Hm?” Jihoon asks against his skin. His face is buried on the crook of Soonyoung’s neck, sucking on the length of it. Another groan escapes Soonyoung’s mouth unwillingly as he feels Jihoon’s tongue in contact with his skin.

“I was gonna say something but I forgot,” he laughs.

He feels his pants tighten and it doesn’t help that Jihoon has his palm down to feel him hardening. Jihoon leaves a chaste kiss on his ear.

“I want you,” Jihoon whispers. The contact of his fingertips on Soonyoung’s crotch has the other whimpering helplessly.

Soonyoung nods slightly and manages to breathe out, “Okay.”

“I want you, Seungcheol.”

“Okay, _no.”_

The words strike Soonyoung sober and he unconsciously shoves Jihoon off of him, hard. Jihoon hits the roof of the car and winces in pain.

“Shit, shit, shit,” Soonyoung mumbles to himself, shoving Jihoon back to the other seat. “You’re with someone?”

Jihoon groans, hand still gripping on the back of his head. “What the hell are you saying?”

“Seungcheol.” Jihoon blinks. He slowly looks up to Soonyoung. “You said Seungcheol. Is that who you’re going to? In Daegu?”

“I-I’m sorry,” Jihoon says slowly. “I shouldn’t have done that.”

Soonyoung is still panting hard, and it doesn’t help that his shaft is still uncomfortably hard. “Get some rest. I’m gonna take a breather,” he sighs, running a hand over his hair and getting off the car as quickly as he can.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> im sorry for ending this chapter this way i really am but we'll get onto more of this on the next chapter hehe  
> btw! thank u for the kudos/comments on the first chapter hehe~
> 
> hit me up on twitter or [cc](http://www.curiouscat.me/howoozidan/)!!! *u*


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